extension testing with default settings

[hyangah]

I want to launch extension tests with the default, empty settings, instead of using my own user settings.

We have the following launch.json setting, not much different from what's in the testing-extension doc except a couple of additional flags.

		{
			"name": "Launch Extension Tests",
			"type": "extensionHost",
			"request": "launch",
			"runtimeExecutable": "${execPath}",
			"args": [
				"--disable-extensions",
				"--extensionDevelopmentPath=${workspaceFolder}",
				"--extensionTestsPath=${workspaceFolder}/out/test/integration/index",
				"--user-data-dir", "/tmp/empty",
				"--timeout",
				"999999"
			],
			"stopOnEntry": false,
			"sourceMaps": true,
			"outFiles": [
				"${workspaceFolder}/out/test/**/*.js"
			],
			"preLaunchTask": "npm: watch"
		},

I hoped this --user-data-dir flag could help us starting with empty user settings.
I think it worked a couple of months ago but today I found it doesn't work as I remembered.
Maybe it's a recent regression, or it never worked and I was confused.

I checked the extension development host launched with this launch button, and verified it's still accessing my user profile and settings.

Interestingly, if I pass /dev/null to --user-data-dir (as used in chrome projects to create a clean testing environment), the extension development host is stuck in a blank window.

Back to my original question: Is there a way to launch extension tests in a clean environment?

---

• VS Code version: Code - Insiders 1.46.0-insider (6849775, 2020-05-15T09:06:06.454Z)
• OS version: Darwin x64 18.7.0

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

[weinand]

/duplicate #44734

[hyangah]

We found #7243 (comment) and supplying "--user-data-dir= "/tmp/empty" instead of "--user-data-dir", "/tmp/empty" (note: =) made it work as intended.